Every now and then a new product comes along that really gets the old grey matter ticking. These weed rakes have been in use for a couple of seasons around the Yateley area and, as they have their base in this hotbed of carp angling innovation, Angling Intelligence were the first to bring them to the commercial market.
During the winter, Paul Terry of A. I. very kindly sorted me out with a set, and they have become firmly integrated into my kit in a very short time, and have proved very useful indeed.They have a thousand-and-one uses - the list is limited only by your imagination. The A.I. website does an excellent job of explaining the various ways they can be used and should be first port of call if you are interested. I won’t re-invent the wheel and repeat it all here; suffice to say I’ve so far I’ve used them successfully cast from a spod rod to stir up silt and remove silkweed, and nip channels through marginal weed to improve line lay (and bite indication!) with no problems.
I know some people are a little concerned about losing them as they do cost, but by using 50Ib PowerPro (standard on my spod and marker rods) and having a test cast with a plain lead, that has not been a problem in the slightest. Of more interest perhaps, have been a couple of slightly less obvious uses I’ve found. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time of late using a boat on a crystal clear venue. To test the bottom consistency and check depths in less-visible times, I use an old 6- foot boat rod and a braid-loaded multiplier to 'donk' the bottom. This was done with a 6oz lead on the end, but I have recently replaced it with the A. I. t-shaped rake. The metal construction sends a massively improved signal back to the rod, which makes identifying different features significantly easier.
It also allows you to bring back samples of bottom weed, and check out what’s down there in detail. As well as this, it can be used to clean off spots of silt and silkweed to allow you to present a rig cleanly. On a recent session at Wraysbury, I found the spot I wanted to fish had silted over and gained a surrounding wall of weed. This made my leader sit up off the bottom horribly. A few tweaks with the rake, and I had a clean spot to present the bait and a clear channel for the leader to lay down in. It worked a treat, and two fish tripped up in the next few nights!
The x-shaped version makes an excellent replacement marker lead. Again, the metal construction sends a terrific signal back to the rod – the difference is huge! It makes identifying the features in front of you that little bit easier, and is especially useful when trying to locate gravel areas. A version of the x-shaped rake with slightly shorter prongs would be the perfect marker lead. All in all, a very useful little tool that will allow you to angle that little bit more effectively and put a more fish on the bank. With a little thought, I’m sure you will be able to come up with a host of uses beyond those that I’ve already mentioned – for example, I reckon barbel anglers on weed-choked shallows will find them useful, tench anglers faced with weedy areas will be able to use them, and so will a good many other anglers.
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